Background Multi-country studies assessing the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) during the COVID19 pandemic, as defined by WHO Standards, are lacking. Methods Women who gave birth in 12 countries of the WHO European Region from March 1, 2020 - March 15, 2021 answered an online questionnaire, including 40 WHO Standard-based Quality Measures. Results 21,027 mothers were included in the analysis. Among those who experienced labour (N = 18,063), 41.8% (26.1%- 63.5%) experienced difficulties in accessing antenatal care, 62% (12.6%-99.0%) were not allowed a companion of choice, 31.1% (16.5%-56.9%) received inadequate breastfeeding support, 34.4% (5.2%-64.8%) reported that health workers were not always using protective personal equipment, and 31.8% (17.8%-53.1%) rated the health workers’ number as “insufficient”. Episiotomy was performed in 20.1% (6.1%-66.0%) of spontaneous vaginal births and fundal pressure applied in 41.2% (11.5% -100%) of instrumental vaginal births. In addition, 23.9% women felt they were not treated with dignity (12.8%-59.8%), 12.5% (7.0%-23.4%) suffered abuse, and 2.4% (0.1%-26.2%) made informal payments. Most findings were significantly worse among women with prelabour caesarean birth (N = 2,964). Multivariate analyses confirmed significant differences among countries, with Croatia, Romania, Serbia showing significantly lower QMNC Indexes and Luxemburg showing a significantly higher QMNC Index than the total sample. Younger women and those with operative births also reported significantly lower QMNC Indexes. Conclusions Mothers reports revealed large inequities in QMNC across countries of the WHO European Region. Quality improvement initiatives to reduce these inequities and promote evidence-based, patient-centred respectful care for all mothers and newborns during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond are urgently needed. Funding: The study was financially supported by the Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste, Italy.
Background Maternal experience of labour and delivery is multidimensional and is influenced by a variety of factors. Aim to report maternal childbirth experience as described by the women themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden using a WHO Standards-based tool adapted for an online survey (Quality of maternal and newborn care-QMNC). Methods Women ≥ 18 years of age who gave birth from March 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 were asked to give voluntary consent to participate in an online survey. The survey included 40 questions on four key domains: provision of care, experience of care, availability of human and physical resources and organisational changes due to COVID-19. Results 5003 women were included in the analysis. Among those who underwent labour (n = 4528), 46.7% perceived a reduction in QMNC due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 50.7% were not allowed a companion of choice, 62.5% reported that health workers were not always using protective personal equipment and 36.5% rated the number of health workers as “insufficient”. Fundal pressure was applied in 22.2% of instrumental vaginal births and 36.8% received inadequate breastfeeding support. In addition, 18.4% of women did not feel treated with dignity and 6.9% reported some form of abuse. In general, findings were significantly worse among women who did not undergo labour (n = 475). Conclusions Swedish mothers’ satisfaction of care provided during childbirth was strongly influenced by many variables. Actions to promote high-quality, evidence-based, patient-centered respectful care for all mothers and newborns are urgently needed.
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